‘Kind of Like a Mystery Novel’: How a Louisiana detective took down Russian scammers

(InvestigateTV) — An urgent text warns there’s an issue with your account and insists you verify your information immediately.

Your mind may start to race. Are you at risk? Before you take action or click any link, you should stop and take a deep breath.

That message may actually be a smishing scam. These scams are cons designed to get your personal information and take your money.

The word smishing is a mashup of SMS, for short message service, and phishing.

Smishing attacks come in various forms, including delivery, government, and bank scams.

In Arizona, a woman took the scammer’s bait when she received what she thought was a text from her bank.

Kelsey Herrett responded, “No.” Little did she know that’s all it took for her to end up on a scammer’s hook.

Kelsey was lured in by a smishing scam. Smishing usually starts with a text containing a strange-looking link from what appears to be a trusted source, like a bank.

The goal of the scam is to trick people into sharing sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. Kelsey transferred almost $2,000 out of her bank account and right into the scammer’s hands.

In Kelsey’s case, her money was gon,e and the bank closed their investigation.

However, a digital detective in Louisiana untangled the World Wide Web to find the source of a text behind a toll scam.

Investigative reporter Meg Gatto takes an in-depth look at the unprecedented steps that got a fraudulent website shut down.

Is AI impacting your community? Find out more with InvestigateTV’s mAnIpulated: A Misinformation Nation